Hello Kickstarter and incredible backers of Grand Canyon GigaView!

Sliding in at the very end of the year, covered in dust, and a bit worn out, Grand Canyon GigaView has finally found home base at Google Earth. My virtual tour of America's greatest natural attraction went around the bases since the April river trip were it was born. First base was the upload of all 28 images to GigaPan.org and subsequent geotagging for Google Earth. I built a tumblr blog about the river trip and included links to the KML files, which had to be downloaded and opened in the users version of Google Earth for viewing. Later, I learned that I could use the Google Earth plug-in to embed the images into the tumblr blog for an on page viewing experience. This got the job done, but each image lived seperately and I could not relate them to one another to tell the story of our river journey.

Sometime in late June I discovered second base: Bing Maps, Microsoft's incredible map platform headed by @blaiseaguera via the Photosynth Map App. Bing Maps & Photosynth remains my favorite base for Grand Canyon GigaView because it is available to so many users of the Bing Maps platform and hundreds are stumbling across it each and every day. The smooth 3D experience and deep zoom capability combined with highlighted thumbnails to guide the user experience are key attributes. All of the gigapixel images I've taken over the year (120+) are available on Photosynth.net and geotagged in Bing Maps Photosynth App.

Third base for Grand Canyon GigaView is @360Cities.net. Jeffery Martin's community for 360 panorama photographers provides for ultra-high resolution panoramas, has a pull out integrated Google Map (really nice), and links nearby panoramas via hotspots, which is perfect for a collection like Grand Canyon GigaView where the context of location helps tell the story. Last month, 360Cities.net and selected geocoded images there were given default priority on Google Earth, meaning that anyone checking out the Grand Canyon in the 3D mapping software sees those images represented as red 360 icons. Grand Canyon GigaView was selected for 360Cities Google Earth layer earlier this month, and, I swear I could see a third base coach telling it to keep going for homeplate.

Today, I noticed that Grand Canyon GigaView now appears in the public version of Google Earth, It is an outcome that I consider home base for the project, because as I stood out on the Grand Canyon Skywalk in 2007 with the camera that I used on Google Maps Street View, it is close to the original vision I had for this project. That was to create a Google Maps River View. I never imagined where that idea would take me.

My baseball metaphor is not to imply that Grand Canyon GigaView is a homerun. To date, only 61,000 people have taken the virtual tour, but thats not bad for a project with almost no financing. The recent increase in visibility in Google Earth is surging that number by the minute, and the images aren't going anywhere. So, although you've probably seen a few of the River Views already, crank up Google Earth again and dive on into the Canyon. Be sure to take a look around once you are there and please share it with you network.

Thank you again for your support of Grand Canyon GigaView. It could never have been done without you.

Happy New Year to you and yours, and I'll see you in 2011!

Thomas Hayden
GigaView360

Hi Everyone!

The website for Grand Canyon GigaView is now live at

http://grandcanyongigaview.tumblr.com/

Thank you so much for backing my project. There is no way it could have been done without you.

I decided to build this beta version using the micro-blogging site, Tumblr. It is super simple to use and works fairly well with the Google Earth and GigaPan plugins that I'm using. There is also a great Tumblr community, and its free.

There is also an iPhone app that allows you to explore Grand Canyon GigaView with your finger tips. Its called Pixeet and you can zoom into the Grand Canyon on the map to view lower res 360 images. Download it here:
http://itunes.apple.com/app/pixeet-360/id346164803...

This is only version 1.0 of the project. I have several additions on my To Do list for it, and I welcome any suggestions you might have. The backer photos have not been embedded into the GigaPans yet, but that is the first item for version 2.0. Each backer's name and corporate logo each appear on the background of the site (please let me know if you prefer it removed), but those images are not searchable. This is intended only to recognize your contribution to the project with my thanks.

I hope you'll take some time to explore Grand Canyon GigaView at the website above, on GigaPan.org, and in Google Earth . For the ultimate experience, you'll need to download each of the KML files (links on each page) and open them in Google Earth. Once you have them all saved to "My Places" in Google Earth, you can navigate through the Canyon in the 3D map and jump into and out of the spherical GigaPan images.

Feel free to go to GigaPan.org and creae your own snapshots of your favorite elements of the images. Grand Canyon GigaView has a Facebook page that you can share with your friends and my Flickr pages have all of the standard photos.

Please share the links with your network if you enjoy the journey.

Thank you all again for your contributions and interest in this project.

Thomas Hayden

About the website:
Organized chronologically by each day on the river, this website is both a trip report and webspace for the visual media. If GigaPan images were taken on a particular day, they are embedded at the top of that day’s page in both Google Earth and GigaPan widgets. If multiple GigaPans were captured were captured on a particular day, these two widgets are repeated for each GigaPan. Multiple widgets increase loading time for the page significantly. Please be patient, as these are some of the best images and most interesting pages in the project.

If you do not have the Google Earth plugin, you can download it quickly (I recommend downloading the latest version of Google Earth, too). The Google Earth widget automatically starts in space and zooms into the location of the GigaPan. Double-click on the GigaPan icon (a white box may appear, but can be closed), to enter into the image for viewing. Click and drag inside the image to look around. Use the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom for a closer look. Click the “Exit Photo” button in the upper right corner and you will see the spherical image in the context of its location and can explore the environment around the image in the 3D map.

The GigaPan widget displays another interactive version of the image. It is 2 dimensional, so the image is warped to fit the frame (like a global map on the wall). Below the image, “snapshots” of items of interest inside the GigaPan are selected for quick reviewing. Click one snapshot at a time to zoom from one to another.

Each day on the river (and, thus, each page here) has a corresponding Flickr slideshow of “standard” photos taken on that day. This slideshow is also interactive in that you can view the entire selection of photos or click on a photo to learn more about it. You can also view these images on my Flickr pages.

Below the visual media, I provide links to the KML files for Google Earth exploration and to the GigaPan.org pages. Below those, the RIVER LOG tells the story of the day’s events. Below the RIVER LOG, I describe the GigaPan images and provide the annotations for each snapshot that you can also find on GigaPan.org. At the bottom of each day’s page, there are links to the Flickr photoset of that day, the Grand Canyon GigaView Facebook Page, and my Twitter profile @video360.

So, that’s what you can expect in the pages to follow, and I do hope that you take some time to look around the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It is an amazing place that too few people ever get to see.

Hello Kickstarter backers!

My apologies for waiting almost a week to post an update since taking out from the Colorado River at Diamond Creek. There were the overtime duties of unloading the pack, driving almost 22 hours straight back to Portland, and the process of reviewing the content has taken several days. There have been a few social engagements that have also been important to attend, since the best thing to happen on the trip was that my girlfriend of two years, Christy, said “Yes” to my proposal of marriage at the put in. Even after three weeks of grueling conditions and questionable judgment calls, she hasn't backed out yet, so I am truly the happiest man in the world this Earth Day.

Grand Canyon GigaView is comprised of 28 GigaPan images, most are 360° spherical images that are made up of 122 or more individual pics from my Canon Powershot S5 IS (8.0 Megapixels). This is more than I had hoped for but less than I had dreamed of, so I am very happy with the quantity of the images, but their quality is what really makes me smile. I've roughly stitched each of them, and I am just loving the detail and comprehensiveness of the images.

Please remember that this was always a project about a trip, not a trip about a project, so my great concern on the river was to not allow my project to interrupt the flow of the trip. Believe it or not, there's not a lot of extra time on a Grand Canyon River trip, even with eighteen days. There is a lot of work that needs to be done: the cooking, the cleaning, the packing, the rigging of the boats, the rowing of the boats, the scouting of rapids, the celebration of successful runs, the derigging, the camp set up, the hikes, and, the critically important, periods of rest, relaxation, and enjoyment.

The question always in the back of my mind was "To GigaPan, Or Not To GigaPan". I usually chose to pick up my camera and my carcass, and begin the hunt for the best nearby location. Sometimes, I did not, recognizing that the moment I was enjoying was too important to walk away from. Whether is was with the oarsman on the boats for the traditional first beer at camp or trying to keep up with Christy's incredible zeal for setting up an exquisite campsite for us to sleep in, there is simply often other things to do. When the light was going off or the moment was right, I would slip away from the group and set up a shot. I'd come back and do a couple of camp chores (crushing cans, filtering water, pump our inflatable mattress) while the GigaPan worked its magic, and then I would retrieve the equipment from whatever outcrop, sand dune, or chasm I had it shooting in. I would usually keep my camera out of the case to get some in camp people pictures after each foray.

The need to stay out of the shot would sometimes mean that I would dance around the camera on an exposed cliff face or try to find a place to hide from it. I've noticed myself peaking through the bushes in the GigaPan images and I remember trying to sneak a look to see if it was finished or still working and being caught be the camera facing in exactly my direction. The camera also caught members of our party, often Christy, in the distance between the bushes, but, fortunately, never in any compromising positions. I shot several images on the boats, in camp, and on hikes where we decided not to hide from the camera, but to stay still to be captured as part of the bigger image of the place. Christy and I are featured in two of the images from hike we took together. In one, you can see several people gathered on a cliff and our valiant trip leader is off on an exploratory climb some distance away. These little "Easter Eggs" make each image more interesting and I'm sure that there are lizards, spiders, birds, and flowers still waiting to be found.

During the days on the river, GigaPans were usually not possible. We stopped often to scout rapids, but, as a boatman, it was critical that I focus on the rapids themselves and not see those stops as opportunities to set up the equipment.

Some of you may be interested in more details about the river trip itself: what were our runs like, what kind of boats were we in, where we chose to spend our time? All of those details will be a in my Grand Canyon GigaView Trip Report, which will give a day by day account of the trip and be published in the Northwest River Supply (NRS) Newsletter and here as an update. More background information on the trip and how the project took shape is available in the NRS Newsletter that was published while we were on the river http://www.nrsweb.com/services/newsletter/2010/rtnStory_0410a.asp

There will be many more pictures on the Trip Report and, eventually, the website, but here are a few of my favorite random pics from the trip. I am still gathering media from everyone in our party and there will be some great videos from us running rapids and hiking. In celebration of Earth Day today, I am going to try to publish one of my favorite GigaPans on GigaPan.org and in Google Earth, wish me luck.

Thank you again to everyone who helped me make this dream a reality. I hope you'll enjoy the images and share them with your friends and family with pride in the knowledge that you helped make this happen.

Immersed in Images,
Thomas Hayden

Thank you to everyone who made this trip possible, each and every backer, and whoever you heard of it from. Thank you.

It's raining buckets at about 5 am here in Portland. The car is packed. That was fun. We leave in about an hour for SLC first, then Flag, then Lee's Ferry.

This will be the last update on Kickstarter until we take out, but I'll be on Twitter and Facebook until Sunday. After that, it's adios social media.

Can't wait to get started.

See you on the river!

Thomas Hayden
Grand Canyon GigaView

Thank you, so much, everyone. Thank you.

Thanks to all the wonderfully supportive people who shared my Kickstarter project with their networks (932 watched my video by my count). Thanks to friends and family and my girlfriend, Christy, who helped in so many ways. Thanks to 9 incredible companies, and especially 55 backers, Grand Canyon GigaView is 135% FUNDED and almost ready to launch on an 18 day expedition to create the most detailed virtual tour of America's premier natural experience.

The gear is almost ready to go into dry bags, Pelican cases, and ammo cans. The granola is waiting to be baked. The 600 AA batteries in 17 packages of 36 each are about to be consolidated. The first GigaPan test images have been stitched and put online (they are not yet in Google Earth).

Check out my first test images from the Columbia River Gorge and my backyard in Portland, OR.
http://gigapan.org/gigapans/most_popular/...

With yet more help from NRS (Northwest River Supply) and their company newsletter (25,000 circulation), I have put out a request for location suggestions for GigaPan images. If there is someplace you know of in the Grand Canyon (at river level or within easy hiking range) that you would like to me shoot in a GigaPan, please send it to me as a message here on Kickstarter.com. I have my list, but I want to know about more opportunities for great place images.

Here is the link to the NRS Newsletter:
http://www.nrsweb.com/services/newsletter/Newsletter_current.asp...
I'm writing an article for the next issue and will write a trip report when I get back.

Thanks again, everyone, for everything!

Almost time to go boating!

Thomas